The Justice Ministry and the Board of Certified Public Accountants published data this week showing that Bais Yaakov girls were more successful at passing their CPA exams on their first try than all students at Israel’s leading universities.
The accounting exams in Israel are notoriously difficult and according to the data, 96% of Bais Yaakov students who took the exam in the fall of 2022 for the first time passed, a higher percentage than any other academic institution. Only 67% of first-time applicants from Bar-Ilan University, 57% from Tel Aviv University, and 33% from Hebrew University passed the test. The Ruppin Academic Center fared better but even there, only 81% of students passed on the first try.
What makes the Bais Yaakov girls’ success even more astonishing is that their accounting program is compressed into two years of intense studies versus four years in universities. And the Bais Yaakov girls don’t receive any leniencies – they study the same material and take the same rigorous tests as the university students.
After the data was published, Kan News spoke with two Bais Yaakov girls who passed the exam, as seen in the video below. The girls said that the secret to their success was their dedication to their goal, their investment in their studies, and of course, tefillos.
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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14 Responses
Although the Beis Yaakov girls should be commended for their achievement, this article is misleading. If you look at provided numbers, it seems strange that the major Israeli universities had a third of the number of test takers than the Beis Yaakovs. After a quick google search, it seems from the spring and fall test data from the past few years that the majority of university students take the CPA exam in the spring. There, the results are far better (Hebrew University for example had an 88% and 86% in the spring instead of 33% and 16% in the fall with much much more students taking it then). Reichman university had 100% passing rate. I don’t know anything about the test more than this but I think a news website should research more before publishing findings which provide a skewed view of what actually occurs.
Please don’t post pictures of Beis Yaakov girls on the Internet, thank you.
Also, the article says that by Ruppin only 81% passed on their first try but the chart clearly says that 94% passed on their first try.
This entire chart looks very strange, how were there only 18,47, and 39 students from Tel Aviv, Hebrew, and Ben Gurion universities, which are Israel’s three biggest conventional universities, who took the test but 97 from the Beis Yaakovs. Open University has around 50,000 students (across disciplines) but only 58 took this CPA test? I think someone who is familiar with what this data is trying to express should evaluate this before it is considered news because the way it is presented does not add up.
It’s proof positive that a secular education in a frum setting yields positive outcomes. I challenge 100 bochurim that had no secular education to do the same.
Clearly, the numbers are a bit skewed for the reasons Dan outlines above. Nevertheless, it is clear that the Beis Yakov girls performed extremely well.
Schmendrik: Rather than recognizing their achievement, you again show your tunnel vision by kvetching about the photos. The YWN editors operate in accordance with daas torah and really could care less about your psudo-psak.
@Dan_The & @Gadolhadorah: I didn’t Google the stats, but @Dan_The’s second post is incorrect, so I wonder if perhaps @Dan_The misread whatever they Googled. 81 is the number stated on the chart; 94 refers to the percentage of passers out of the first-time takers.
Maybe I don’t know how to read these graphs but the article says that “The Ruppin Academic Center fared better but even there, only 81% of students passed on the first try.” As you said, “94 refers to the percentage of passers out of the first-time takers.” If “first try” means “first time test takers” then the article is wrong. It really doesn’t matter that the article got something wrong. My point was that it’s great to praise the Beis Yaakov girls but you shouldn’t make it seem like university students are so bad. And, like one’s intuition would suggest, after looking up additional data a totally different picture is painted.
I looked into it a little more, from the government website, https://www.gov.il/he/Departments/DynamicCollectors/statics?skip=0
it seems that these are actually tests on different topics. Also, from the information on some of the university websites, it seems that students who graduated the program get an exemption from some of the tests. Maybe that’s the reason why only 7 students took it for the first time from Tel Aviv University and 2 from Ben Gurion University. I don’t really know but all of this looks strange.
Also, I think students who get a BA in Accounting actually take a double major. So even though they may have four years (though I think most degrees in Israel are three years) they also do an entire degree in another topic, such as math, computer science or economics. These topics are very challenging. So it may not be so accurate to state that “what makes the Bais Yaakov girls’ success even more astonishing is that their accounting program is compressed into two years of intense studies versus four years in universities”.
The main point is; we can be happy and proud of the Beis Yaakov students without spurning all of Israeli university students. Especially since the comparison is made with suspect data and without the context of how each of these programs actually works.
The reason is very simple, by the Chareidy girls, the only ones that take the exam are those that are serious about accounting. Whereas, by the other girls, they go to the course just as social interaction.
We have the same story here at Touro College, where the average is much higher than what we expect of a relatively unknown college.
I agree you should not be posting photos and videos of teenage Bais Yaakov girls on your website and there should be enough daas over there to realize this on your own
@moderators: why was my comment deleted twice?
if others are allowed to post comments criticizing the posting of BY pictures/videos on your site, then why was my comment deleted?